It’s a valid question, an interesting question. There was so much that was interesting about this team earlier in the season. The bounce-back of the Sedins and the feeling that the Canucks …

]]>What inspires you these days about the Canucks?

It’s a valid question, an interesting question. There was so much that was interesting about this team earlier in the season. The bounce-back of the Sedins and the feeling that the Canucks might have at least drawn even in the Nick-Bonino-for-Ryan-Kesler trade. A goalie who won without being spectacular, and a very strong top-four defence corps. Heck, a power play that could score!

These days, none of those things seem to inspire, because they don’t really seem to exist. It’s fabulous that Henrik and Daniel are really quite good defensively, but is that what you want from your top line? A goal, here and there, would be nice.

Ostensibly, goals should be scored, starting tonight in Philadelphia. But you’re probably safe taking the under. In the meantime, here’s the Hat Trick ahead of tonight’s game against the Flyers (Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040, 4 p.m.):

1. When Pekka Rinne decided he’d had enough, three minutes into the third period Tuesday, the Nashville Predators sent in their backup goalie, Carter Hutton. Think Eddie Lack wishes he could play more? Hutton’s played exactly twice in the past two months. The guy was as game-cold as they come. No doubt, at that point, Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins, knowing his guys had played pretty well throughout the second period to close the gap to a goal, told them to pour it on. Hutton’s cold, remember? Well, they had a promising first couple of minutes, like they thought they had a chance. The Predators were exhausted. But instead of continuing an onslaught, or even attempting an onslaught, the Canucks went on the power play and that pretty much ended the game right there, Hutton needing to do absolutely nothing the rest of the way.

Three nights earlier, Calgary Flames goalie Joni Ortio, making his 10th NHL appearance, shut out the Canucks in a game that would have been painful for most Canucks fans to watch.

Is it a lack of motivation? A lack of skill? An inability to get out of the defensive zone, lacklustre shooting from the perimeter and sluggish wrist shots from the point? Can the Canucks just not compete when the going gets tough, and are they simply an aging team that has no option but to rely on its aging players, because the younger guys either can’t get it done, won’t get it done, or simply don’t exist on this roster.

It is worth noting that the Flyers will serve up either a) 33-year-old rookie Rob Zepp (above), who played his third NHL game Wednesday night against the Capitals and has spent his last half-dozen years playing in Germany, or b) 32-year-old Ray Emery, who has a goals-against average of 3.21, a save percentage of .889, and apparently the trust of no one. It’s natural to ask if this is the night the Flyers pitch their first shutout of the season.

2. Before the season started, pretty much everyone picked the California teams to go 1, 2 and 3 in the Pacific Division, with the Canucks in a year-long struggle to make the playoffs. Well, the Canucks didn’t play along with that plan, for close to half a season. But now, as the Canucks are at the halfway mark, for the first time they are looking up at, yes, the three California teams. It’s not that the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings have been incredible. In recent weeks they’ve just happened to lose a little less than the Canucks have.

The good news is that the Canucks have two games in hand on the Kings (who they’re a point back of), three games in hand on the Sharks (two points up on the Canucks). The bad news is games in hand work only when you take advantage of them, which the Canucks increasingly seem unable to do. And there’s more bad news: The Sharks have guys like Joe Pavelski, Antti Niemi and even sometime-fourth-liner Tomas Hertl, who if he comes alive could be hard to handle. The Kings, meanwhile, have the incredibly powerful Anze Kopitar firing on all cylinders, another Norris Trophy-type season from Drew Doughty, and the predictable slow start that inevitably (at least in two of the past three seasons) leads directly to hoisting the Stanley Cup.

So yes, right. Those games in hand could be useful, if played properly. If not used properly, a desperate struggle to make the postseason will ensue. And it’s worth noting the Canucks haven’t missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons since the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons. That was a dark time for the Canucks.

3. Since his return from injury — or at least his welcome back to the lineup, even if his injury had long since come and gone — there’s been something about Zack Kassian.And, overall, it doesn’t seem promising. He’s played about 70 minutes. He’s taken three shots. Sure, he spends most of his time with Shawn Matthias and Brad Richardson, who don’t exactly pump in the goals, and there’ve been many arguments that Kassian needs to play with the Sedins, or on the second line replacing Chris Higgins.

But have you seen the body language? And if you’re Desjardins, how do you like that body language? The other night, at home, Kassian was taken down by a Calgary Flames defenceman, enthusiastically shared his outrage by screaming at the referee, who was on the other side of the ice, then casually skated to the bench while the Canucks were in the Flames’ zone, and probably could have used an active, interested fifth player. And if you watched him Tuesday in Nashville, there appeared to be similar, disinterested behaviour, including the aforementioned slow, long glide to make a change.

Cody Hodgson has six points in 44 games for the Buffalo Sabres. Right now, at best, we’ll call the Hodgson-Kassian trade a wash.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/01/15/canucks-hat-trick-cant-beat-a-backup-california-rises-to-the-top-and-the-kassian-calamity/feed/0higginsrinnejonnymac684608910602014 NHL Stanley Cup Final - Game FiveMontreal Canadiens v Vancouver CanucksThe 2 O’Clock: Chris Chelios went from almost never getting to junior hockey to playing in the NHL for 50 yearshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/04/the-2-oclock-chris-chelios-went-from-almost-never-getting-to-junior-hockey-to-playing-in-the-nhl-for-50-years/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/04/the-2-oclock-chris-chelios-went-from-almost-never-getting-to-junior-hockey-to-playing-in-the-nhl-for-50-years/#commentsMon, 04 Nov 2013 22:47:42 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=134275In this business, you get some weird mail. And you can’t help but think that some of the people who are sending you that mail are making some weird decisions when they’re sending it. Like, for instance, let’s say they’re …]]>In this business, you get some weird mail. And you can’t help but think that some of the people who are sending you that mail are making some weird decisions when they’re sending it. Like, for instance, let’s say they’re sending you a sleeve of golf balls that have their company’s name stamped on the ball. Very nice. I play golf two or three times a year, so I lose every ball I’ve ever met. Golf balls are highly effective. I can use them, I’m associating your name with them, then am promptly sending them into a forest so thick you couldn’t possibly wade in to try to find the ball.

But what if that sleeve of golf balls was arriving in, say, a box large enough to house a refrigerator? Wouldn’t that be odd? I’m thinking that’s odd. Could the balls not have arrived in a small, padded envelope? Perhaps that’s just me.

I bring this up because, late last week, Province Sports columnist Ed Willes stopped by the office. Now, I had a massive box in my office addressed to Ed. Relatively flat, it was about the size of a nice framed piece of art you might hang up. So he opened the box. Inside, somewhere around five or six small envelopes. In each of them, the same thing: a smallish calendar promoting Sportsnet, its personalities and the NHL season. (Yes, I regularly open mail a good month late.) Did this need to come in a massive box? Maybe not. And what came with each calendar? A puck. Now, much like golf balls, a puck is something one can use. You can actually put a puck on the ice and play hockey with it. But not these pucks. These pucks appear to have been butchered by a meat cleaver. As if someone tried to cut through the puck but, halfway through, gave up. I don’t know why. I don’t know what Sportsnet was thinking. My seven-year-old stopped by the office on the weekend and said he wanted one of the pucks. I don’t know why. I don’t know what he was thinking. The puck is not usable. And these pucks, probably hundreds of them, went out all across the country. You won’t find any of them in your team’s puck bag. You will find them cluttering landfills.

I always wondered how happy The Smiths are. But this video — I heard the song at the gym this morning — suggests I might be wrong.

OK, that’s all for now. See you Tuesday morning at the 10 O’Clock!

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/04/the-2-oclock-chris-chelios-went-from-almost-never-getting-to-junior-hockey-to-playing-in-the-nhl-for-50-years/feed/0chrischeliosjonnymac68sportsnetpuckPICBieksa believes there’s a place in the game for fighting to curb cheap shotshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/03/bieksa-believes-theres-a-place-in-the-game-for-fighting-to-curb-cheap-shots/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/11/03/bieksa-believes-theres-a-place-in-the-game-for-fighting-to-curb-cheap-shots/#commentsMon, 04 Nov 2013 00:23:27 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=134230Kevin Bieksa was giving James van Riemsdyk a cranial massage Saturday and it wasn’t the soothing kind you’d receive at a spa. More like the one you might endure in an alley for all the wrong reasons.

When the feisty …

]]>Kevin Bieksa was giving James van Riemsdyk a cranial massage Saturday and it wasn’t the soothing kind you’d receive at a spa. More like the one you might endure in an alley for all the wrong reasons.

When the feisty Vancouver Canucks defenceman shoved his glove in the face of the Toronto Maple Leafs winger and knocked his helmet off, it was the give-and-take you expected in a battle for position and puck possession in what would prove a highly entertaining and edgy 4-0 domination by the Canucks. And even when enforcers Tom Sestito and Colton Orr received 10-minute misconducts in the first period before finally fighting in the second, they adhered to a long-standing code of being as much of a deterrent for cheap shots as the NHL will allow.

Far removed from Ray Emery’s ridiculous 200-foot dash to dent the cranium of an unwilling Braden Holtby on Friday in an embarrassing one-sided goalie scrap during a line brawl between Philadelphia and Washington — Emery racked up 29 penalty minutes but there’s no provision yet in the new collective bargaining agreement for supplemental discipline — there was enough ugliness at Rogers Arena on Saturday to warrant a place in the game for some form of fighting. Not the staged variety. Not line brawls and nobody is going to argue with stiffer sanctions to curb stupidity. But Joffrey Lupul needs to know that trying to crush the head of a ducking Henrik Sedin with an elbow — and taking out Nazem Kadri with the lunge — isn’t going to go unchallenged. Same with Frazer McLaren launching Alex Edler into the sideboards. Despite the instigator rule, there has to been a way to combat the prospect of injuries when the Leafs take two brutal boarding minors and two crosschecking infractions. They finished with 14 penalties for 52 minutes.

“I played college hockey for four years where there was no fighting and if there was, there were hefty fines and suspensions,” Bieksa said of his time at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. “So, you didn’t see it [fighting]. You saw a ton of hitting from behind and boarding and a ton of high sticking. All that stuff. Fighting is a way to keep everybody honest. It’s not always going to work, but I’d rather have it there than not. A couple of boarderline hits from behind [Saturday] and it seems like it’s cyclical and comes in waves. There have been a lot of suspensions and the onus is on the player getting hit to not put yourself in the situation.”

That’s about as diplomatic as you can get. Bieksa is no angel and can chirp with the best of them because that’s always going to be part of the game within the game. But he’s also not going to deliver a cheap shot. He has seen enough of that. So has Chris Higgins.

“I just don’t understand it,” said the Canucks winger. “Guys can end their careers getting hit from behind. If that [fighting] is the deterrent, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s something that’s going to go away. Emotions are going to run high and when you’re hitting the best players on the ice — something is going to happen. I’d still like to see less hits from behind more than anything. They’re worse than fighting in my mind.”

Leafs winger David Clarkson wanted a piece of Zack Kassian in the third period Saturday and managed to land some right hands on the sideboards while the Canucks winger was being restrained by the linesmen. Already a target for his cornerboards collision with Phil Kessel that resulted in a foot laceration and subsequent surgery for the Leafs centre — the same sequence in which Kassian would score early in the second period to make it 2-0 — he understands the intimidation and accountability parts of the game. Even when Clarkson had an obvious upper punching hand.

“Yeah, he got in a couple,” said Kassian. “Those are tough situations. Two guys drop the gloves and want to go and the refs don’t let you. They have one guy, but not the other. When people are fighting for territory and fights break out, players like to see that emotion. And you listen to the crowd. I feel there’s always a place in the game for fighting and every player and every person who watches the game knows that.

“If they take fighting out of the game, everybody grows three feet and stupid things happen.”

When Orr rocked Ryan Stanton and Sestito stepped in for the scrap, he earned a check-mark from John Tortorella. The Canucks coach preaches bite and push in an aggressive forechecking approach and that means Alex Burrows will get under the skin of the opposition. His brief bout with a frustrated Kessel wasn’t that surprising. But no real deterrent to curtail the other craziness rubs Tortorella the wrong way.

“Players need to police themselves,” he stressed. “You put the instigator rule in and all the supplementary discipline and all the crap that comes after. It needs to be taken care of on the ice and I don’t think you’ll have all that stuff — the hitting from behind and the cheap stuff.

“We’ve taken too much of the game away from the players. They turn in an honest game and we [league] never will, but we should.”

Goalie coach Paul Fricker is a casualty of the Vancouver Giants’ 2-7-1-1 start.

Owner Ron Toigo wasn’t keen on going into details, but would admit Monday morning that the team had “parted ways,” with Fricker, who had been guiding their netminders since the 2011-12 season.

Payton Lee, Vancouver’s 17-year-old starter, has a 3.61 goals against average and a .859 save percentage in nine games so far. That leaves him 40 points behind 20th spot in the league in save percentage. He did have one of his better performances of the season Friday, when he stopped 23 of 24 shots in a 5-1 win over the Kamloops Blazers.

Back-up Jared Rathjen, 19, has a 4.07 GAA and a .892 save percentage in three appearances.

One of the names being rumoured as a possible replacement is Eli Wilson, the former Ottawa Senators goalie coach now based in Vancouver. He worked with Cory Schneider and James Reimer during the lockout.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/10/21/vancouver-giants-part-ways-with-goalie-coach-paul-fricker-after-lacklustre-start-to-whl-season/feed/0steveewenPayton Lee was sharp in Vancouver's win on Friday over Kamloops. (Vancouver Giants photo.)Canucks Hat Trick: Willes trumpets the twinshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/02/21/canucks-hat-trick-willes-trumpets-the-twins/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/02/21/canucks-hat-trick-willes-trumpets-the-twins/#commentsThu, 21 Feb 2013 16:46:52 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=108980Province Sports columnist Ed Willes delivered this Canucks Hat Trick — three things he was thinking about after the Canucks-Blackhawks game Tuesday — on Wednesday morning. But with me being a bit swamped on Wednesday, perhaps even snowed under, it’s …]]>Province Sports columnist Ed Willes delivered this Canucks Hat Trick — three things he was thinking about after the Canucks-Blackhawks game Tuesday — on Wednesday morning. But with me being a bit swamped on Wednesday, perhaps even snowed under, it’s going online on Thursday morning. Apologies to Ed. Enjoy …

1. The reaction to Jannik Hansen’s role in Marian Hossa’s injury is all over the map. To some – and, admittedly, most of those some are in the Vancouver sector – Hansen was making a play for the puck when he bonged the Blackhawks star. For others, it was a deliberate attempt to target the head. And on Wednesday, Hansen was served with a one-game suspension. Hossa, sadly, has a history with concussions and that, along with the Canucks-Blackhawks history, factors into the debate. At any rate, you hope the big Slovak is all right. The game needs him.

2. Lost in all the noise over Hansen-Hossa, the Canucks’ stirring comeback and Cory Schneider’s goaltending performance, was a terrific outing from the Sedins on Tuesday night. Daniel had a goal, an assist, six shots on the night and went plus-one in just under 21 minutes of ice time. Henrik had two helpers, went plus-one and contributed a memorable Hank-ian moment when he tried to back-pass to his brother from the slot. The twins have been slowly building some momentum and that’s good news for the Canucks, especially on the power play.

3. As much as the goaltending decision is always a story in Vancouver, Thursday night’s starter in Dallas will be interesting. Schneider was brilliant in Chicago, holding his team in the game despite a porous defensive effort. Somehow, the game’s star selectors named Blackhawks goalie Ray Emery over Schneider – the Hawks swept all three stars, fabulous – but without Schneider, that’s a 6-2 game. Thus far, Alain Vigneault has been slow to give a goalie consecutive starts, especially after a loss, shootout or otherwise. Schneider got the start in a big road game against the Canucks’ most heated rival. If he gets the start in Dallas tomorrow night, it will say a lot about the goaltending situation going forward. (Editor’s note: Indeed, Schneider is getting the start against Dallas.)

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/02/21/canucks-hat-trick-willes-trumpets-the-twins/feed/0schneiderhawks021903PICjonnymac68Five Questions That Need Answershttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/02/17/five-questions-that-need-answers/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/02/17/five-questions-that-need-answers/#commentsFri, 17 Feb 2012 22:29:54 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=60958Are you tired of weekly articles yet? Good, I hope not, because I have another one! Hopefully this springboards into the paper, but if not, you can always read it here online. Today I am unveiling a feature I did …]]>Are you tired of weekly articles yet? Good, I hope not, because I have another one! Hopefully this springboards into the paper, but if not, you can always read it here online. Today I am unveiling a feature I did during the contest called “Questions from a Stanchion”, but under the new name of “Five Questions That Need Answers!” This is fun for me because I get to practice writing 600 words or less. I know, one or two of you might miss my 3000 word monsters out there, but it’s always nice to find that blend of short and sweet for an article once in a while. So ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoy my latest feature.

Is it too early to order a Shea Weber jersey?

Is there a proper etiquette to this? Do I have to wait until we official trade for him? I know the odds are we won’t trade for Shea or ever get him in Vancouver, but I am really really good at pretending so if I get the jersey don’t give me weird looks.

What finally pushed Rick Nash over the edge?

I’m not trying to offend Columbus fans (You exist, right?), but I am super curious as to what made Nash think “You know what, after years of losing hockey games, after repeatedly not making the playoffs, and after being basically ignored by all major hockey markets, I have had enough this year. I want out good sirs.” You know it just has to be something totally superficial that finally made him snap. “Jeff Carter used my favorite sippy cup?? That’s it! I want OUT!”

Is it ok that I am still bitter about Luongo not winning the Vezina trophy in 2007?

I like it when Vancouver wins trophies. Who doesn’t? And although I am still waiting for Vancouver to collect the ultimate trophy (I still can’t mention its name….the pain….it hurts…..), I do enjoy it when the Canucks can claim a trophy they’ve never won before. Hart, Art Ross, Selke, Jennings, they have all been graced by a Vancouver Canuck in recent years. We have won almost all major trophies at least once (Ronning screwed us by not winning that damn Byng trophy at least once, and Wellwood was robbed of it. Robbed I say!) but the Vezina? That still remains firmly out of our grasp. 2007 was the year Luongo could have and should have won it. Luongo, playing in front of a far weaker team than Martin Brodeur, ended up losing it that year, as voters were swayed by Martin’s 12 shutouts to Luongo’s 5. Last year Thomas dominated the race, and this year Lundqvist is looking like he has already set up a spot in his bed for the Vezina trophy to nestle in. Luongo is only getting older and that Vezina trophy is looking further and further away from our grasp….

Does anybody else giggle when a Boston Bruin gets injured?

I’m not talking about horrific, career defining injuries. I’m not a monster. I don’t sit around hoping someone gets a concussion or loses an eye out there. But any time I hear a Bruin is out with a knee sprain, a sore back, or their feelings are hurt (Marchand is day to day with a bruised ego), I take a moment to giggle, clap my hands, and nod in agreement with the Hockey Gods handing out some pain.

When Chicago won the cup in 2010 with Niemi, I was very bummed out. The Finals that year saw Niemi vs Michael Leighton, or as I like to call it “What the hell, how did those two goalies end up in the Finals??” series. I didn’t feel Niemi beat Vancouver so much as Dustin Byfuglien rammed his giant rear end into the Canucks faces and forced them to submit to Chicago. As a result, we had to endure a couple of years of people telling Vancouver they didn’t need good goaltending, that you just needed a hot goalie at the right time. This makes me happy that Chicago now has Emery and Crawford playing like garbage, and that Vancouver is winning games recently based purely on solid goaltending. It might be a petty victory, but it’s a victory I will gladly take right now.
Please note that if Vancouver faces Chicago in the playoffs that Crawford will of course play out of his mind and look like a re-born Patrick Roy. It’s just what we do here in Vancouver.